Fortinet FortiGate vs NetBird comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Fortinet and NetBird are both solutions in the ZTNA category. Fortinet is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.6, while NetBird is ranked #15 with an average rating of 9.0. Fortinet holds a 6.5% mindshare in Z, compared to NetBird’s 1.7% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NetBird users who would recommend it.

Fortinet FortiGate

Read 595 Fortinet FortiGate reviews

95,567 Views
4,778 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

NetBird

Read 1 NetBird review

1,102 Views
1,091 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiGate

NetBird

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

Fortinet FortiGate and NetBird compete in the network security space. Fortinet FortiGate often has the upper hand with its comprehensive security features, while NetBird's streamlined approach caters to specific technical needs.

Features: Fortinet FortiGate is recognized for its robust security architecture with features like intrusion prevention systems, antivirus, and application control. It also provides VPN capabilities. NetBird focuses on ease of use, secure communication, and a straightforward interface, appealing to less complex infrastructure.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortinet FortiGate offers a modular deployment model suitable for larger setups with comprehensive support. NetBird stands out with a lightweight deployment process ideal for quick implementation without intensive technical requirements and is valued for its promptness.

Pricing and ROI: Fortinet FortiGate generally involves higher setup costs, promising significant ROI for environments needing comprehensive security. NetBird provides a more cost-effective deployment, delivering competitive ROI for businesses that prioritize efficiency over extensive features.

To learn more, read our detailed ZTNA Report (Updated: October 2026).

Buyer's Guide

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October 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate

Ranking in ZTNA

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

595

Ranking in other categories

Secure Web Gateways (SWG) (2nd), Firewalls (1st), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (2nd), Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions (2nd), WAN Edge (1st), Unified Threat Management (UTM) (1st)

NetBird

Ranking in ZTNA

15th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the ZTNA category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 6.5%, down from 7.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetBird is 1.7%. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

ZTNA Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	6.5%
NetBird	1.7%
Other	91.8%

ZTNA

Featured Reviews

Vijay Ramani

Practice Head at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

Unified security has protected diverse environments and supports consistent policies everywhere

I would say 8 out of 10 regarding the stability of Fortinet FortiGate. It requires a lot of bug fixing and what I understand, Fortinet is fast enough to provide bug fixes and patches, but usually I suggest Fortinet should do thorough testing of their releases and software releases and once probably they can reduce the frequency of new releases but make it stable. That's what my recommendation is. As far as the core objective of Fortinet FortiGate is concerned, I think they are meeting the targets but I guess for rolling out new features and new updates, they are doing a bit of hurry just to cope with the market dynamics. But possibly, I understand that they are compromising on the quality of the software and stability. So over there they have to improve. Rest of the aspects, I guess they are doing pretty good. We are happy. Regarding my experience with Fortinet FortiGate in comparison to maybe some other vendors such as CyberArk, Fortinet is in the top three and they give a lot of competition to their nearest peers in the market. But I guess Fortinet is really struggling in software-defined LAN, Wi-Fi, and FortiSwitches space. So they have to make their products more affordable in Forti-switching and Forti-WiFi space. They are not able to compete effectively with the nearest competitor HP Enterprise and HP Aruba.

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Baljindra

System Administrator at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees

Secure Remote Access and Zero-Trust Connectivity Simplify Global IT Management

Azure/Entra ID Group-Based Access --------------------------------- One feature I would like to see is deeper integration with Microsoft Entra ID groups. Ideally, administrators should be able to map Entra ID groups directly to NetBird access policies so that users who are added to a specific corporate group automatically receive the appropriate NetBird access. This would make user onboarding and offboarding much easier because access could be managed centrally through existing identity-management processes rather than requiring additional manual configuration in NetBird. Direct EDR/XDR/MDR Integration ------------------------------ Another improvement would be more direct integration with security platforms such as CrowdStrike, Microsoft security solutions, XDR, or MDR platforms for self-hosted deployments. Currently, for our self-hosted environment, we can collect NetBird logs through a separate logging or syslog server and then forward them to our security-monitoring platforms. This works, but having a more direct integration with EDR/XDR/MDR platforms would simplify the architecture and reduce the additional infrastructure required for log collection and forwarding. Just-in-Time Access ------------------- I would also like to see a just-in-time (JIT) access capability. For example, we could integrate NetBird with a ticketing or ITSM platform such as Jira or ServiceNow and create a temporary access policy for a specific machine. An administrator could request access to a particular server, receive approval, and then automatically receive access for a defined period—for example, 10 minutes. Once the period expires, the access would automatically be revoked. This would strengthen our zero-trust approach by ensuring that privileged access is provided only when required and for the minimum necessary duration. Self-Hosted High Availability and Backup ---------------------------------------- For organizations running NetBird in a self-hosted environment, enhanced database backup, high availability (HA), and disaster-recovery capabilities would also be valuable. These features would provide additional resilience for organizations that depend heavily on NetBird for production connectivity. Overall ------- There is no major issue with the current product from my perspective. The self-hosted version already provides a strong and flexible foundation. My recommendations are mainly focused on making enterprise integrations and security workflows more seamless. The features I would prioritize are Entra ID group-based access, direct EDR/XDR/MDR integrations, just-in-time access with automatic expiration, and improved HA/backup capabilities for self-hosted deployments. These enhancements would make NetBird even stronger for organizations that are building a mature zero-trust and infrastructure-access strategy.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Fortinet FortiGate has positively impacted my organization by allowing us to replace all the firewalls in other locations, as around 90% of our company operates on Fortinet."

"The next-gen features, the unified threat management capabilities are something that just about everybody is interested in at this point."

"Overall, Fortinet has offered us a very stable VPN that we can access from anywhere in the world and we are not facing any challenges whatsoever."

"I find Fortinet FortiGate to be quite stable, as I have never heard of any issues where they broke or malfunctioned; they are always working."

"FortiGate is easy to use, and I also like its VPN."

"The UTM feature is quite good. FortiAP is easy to deploy because both Fortigate and FortiAP are under the same brand. Otherwise, you need to do more work on the configuration."

"I found the upgrades valuable."

"Security solution with a straightforward and quick setup. It's a stable and scalable product."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"Since we started using NetBird in our testing environment, it has become integral to our day-to-day lives."

Cons

"I would suggest that Fortinet add sandboxing to their solution."

"They could improve performance with all the UTM features working. Sometimes, we have seen that when you enable the antivirus sensor, customers report slow web browsing."

"In some cases, its initial setup could be hard for customers."

"I don't really have anything negative to say as far as Fortinet firewalls are concerned. If anything, they can support a user a little bit better. They can stop being so time-sensitive about how much time the support call has taken, and they can help you do it yourself."

"The customization could be improved. Cisco, for example, is much better at this. They need to work to be at least as good as they are."

"The tool is expensive for small businesses, making it an area where the tool can improve the product by making it available at a cheaper rate."

"Its load balancing feature could be easy to configure."

"I wish Fortinet FortiGate's UI updates would be done in a more simplified way to improve it."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"I rate it nine out of ten because in the self-hosted network, I do not have any option to integrate EDR or XDR directly from the CrowdStrike console."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its price is good."

"It is not the cheapest one, but its price is very competitive."

"Some of our customers are using Sophos and SonicWall due to price concerns, as they can't manage the pricing of Fortinet FortiGate."

"The price range is quite acceptable and normal."

"It is more expensive than Sophos. Fortinet is overall more expensive than Sophos. The small range of Fortinet, such as 60F and 80F, is more expensive than the small range of Sophos. Sophos is cheaper. In addition, if you jump from 80F Series to 100F Series, the price doubles."

"The price is relatively expensive compared to other solutions which are providing similar features."

"They are very competitive, but we like to have the factory warranty taken care of."

"The price of FortiGate is reasonable as I plan to buy new switches. The initial gadgets are already booted, and the pricing seems normal on the market. As for additional costs, I haven't subscribed to many extra features, so I'm only using what I need. Last year, I renewed the support for three years, which can sometimes be expensive but depends on the security benefits and how it helps us."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Comparison Review

it_user216600

Senior Technical Consultant with 51-200 employees

Jan 3, 2016

Sophos UTM vs. Fortinet FortiGate

I have used both Sophos and Fortinet products in production and I have found the Sophos UTM appliances (hardware and virtual) to be a better fit most of the time -- with a few caveats which I will touch on below. In both instances, the transition from TMG will be mostly straightforward. The main…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Outsourcing Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	373
Midsize Enterprise	139
Large Enterprise	195

No data available

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage at large. In my opinion, Fortinet would be the best option and l use Fortinet too...

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What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know the firewalls change every 5 to 7 years as stated but you really do need to upg...

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What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite good. The most valuable features for me are their web and email filtering. I wou...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetBird?

My experience with NetBird's pricing and setup has been very positive, particularly because we are using the self-hosted version. We did not purchase NetBird through the AWS Marketplace or another ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetBird?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for NetBird?

Our main use case for NetBird is to provide secure, lightweight, and high-performance remote connectivity while reducing our dependency on traditional VPN solutions. Previously, we were using tradi...

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Comparisons

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Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 2% of the time

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Compared 52% of the time

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Compared 35% of the time

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Compared 2% of the time

More NetBird Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

October 2026

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Buyer's Guide

ZTNA

October 2026

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Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

No data available

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

Fortinet

NetBird is a sophisticated platform designed to optimize network interactions for businesses. It focuses on delivering seamless connectivity and security, enhancing operational efficiency for enterprises.

NetBird offers a tailored approach to managing network communications, integrating advanced security and connectivity tools that facilitate smooth data exchange. Catering to businesses of varying sizes, NetBird ensures reliable operations through its robust architecture. Its intuitive design supports efficient management while maintaining high standards of data protection.

What are the key features of NetBird?

Intuitive Dashboard: Offers easy navigation for monitoring network performance.
Advanced Security Protocols: Ensures data safety with encryption and threat detection.
Scalability: Supports growing operations with adaptable solutions.
Multi-device Compatibility: Seamlessly operates across different devices.
Real-time Analytics: Provides instant insights into network status.

What benefits and ROI factors should users consider?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces expenditures with streamlined operational processes.
Enhanced Productivity: Boosts performance with reliable connectivity.
Security Assurance: Protects data integrity and privacy.
Flexibility: Adapts to industry-specific needs for tailored experiences.

In industries like finance and healthcare, NetBird facilitates real-time data exchange, essential for critical operations. Its ability to handle sensitive information with precision makes it valuable for sectors requiring stringent privacy and security measures.

NetBird

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

Information Not Available

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